Alicia Machado

Yoseph Alicia Machado Fajardo (born December 6, 1976) is a Venezuelan-American actress, tv host, singer and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1996, she previously crowned Miss Venezuela 1995.

She was the fourth woman from Venezuela to be named Miss Universe.

Machado was born in Maracay, Venezuela.

Her father was a toy store owner who emigrated from Spain and her mother's family emigrated from Cuba prior to the Cuban revolution.

Machado took to performing at an early age.

She began dancing at age 4 and acting at age 12.

Machado attended college for a year and half but left to pursue modeling and appearing in commercials.

Machado won the 1995 Miss Maracay pageant, and then the 1995 Miss Venezuela pageant representing Yaracuy state and then the Miss Universe 1996 crown in Las Vegas.

Early in her training, she refused plastic surgery recommended to her, notable in Venezuelan beauty pageant culture.

The runner-up, Jacqueline Aguilera, also won the Miss World 1995 crown, marking the second time that two Venezuelans from the same pageant won two world titles.

Machado's reign came as American businessman Donald Trump took ownership of the Miss Universe pageant.

While preparing for Miss Universe, Machado underwent intense dieting.

Machado said that, when she won, she weighed 116 pounds and was anorexic and bulimic.

During her reign as Miss Universe, Machado gained what she said was about 12 pounds in weight, drawing considerable press attention.

The President of Miss Universe Organization denied that the organization was considering replacing her with runner-up, Taryn Mansell of Aruba.

After mounting pressure to lose weight from Trump and other pageant officials, Machado asked Trump to assist her with orienting toward a healthier lifestyle.

Trump arranged for 80 reporters to "watch [her] sweat" in a gym, which Machado later called "in very bad taste".

This scandal catapulted her directly to world fame, making her the most popular Miss Universe in history.

In 1998 Machado had her first starring telenovela role as the title character in Samantha.

In 1998, Machado publicly supported the presidential campaign of Henrique Salas Römer.

In 2001, she had a small role on the international soap opera Secreto de Amor.

During 2004–2005, she pursued a career as a TV commercial model with particular success in promoting a dieting product.

In 2005, Machado appeared on a Spanish reality show called La Granja de los celebrities, whose participation generated headlines in the press in Spain, Mexico, Miami and Venezuela, for having sex in front of the cameras with his partner on the program Fernando Acaso, when She was still engaged to Venezuelan baseball player Bob Abreu.

On February 19, 2006, Machado debuted on the Mexican reality show Cantando Por Un Sueño ("Singing For A Dream").

Machado appeared in (and on the cover of) the February 2006 issue of Playboy magazine's Mexican edition, becoming the only Miss Universe to pose nude for that magazine.

Machado was cast in the comedic soap opera Una familia con suerte where she played a woman who fell in love with her brother's enemy.

She again posed nude for the July 2010 issue of the Mexican edition of Playboy.

In 2010 she criticized populist Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez in an interview with Playboy.

The show began airing in Mexico in February 2011 and in the United States in October of that same year.

On September 9, 2012, Machado was one of ten competitors on the third season of Mira Quien Baila.

On November 18, 2012, Alicia won 3rd place in the 3rd season of Univision's dance competition Mira Quien Baila.

In 2013, Machado starred as the protagonist of La Madame, a television serial produced by RTI Productions and RCN TV in Colombia.

In February 2014, she joined Univision's beauty pageant Nuestra Belleza Latina 2014 as a mentor where she coach the participants on how to succeed in the modeling and television industry.

In 2017, she posed nude for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur," ad campaign.

In 2019 she was part of the cast of the play Divinas, she also participated in the Latin movie, He matado a mi marido ( I have killed my husband).

In 2021 she competed in the Colombian version of the MasterChef Celebrity

On May 23, 2021, she premiered her celebrity interview show Whats Up Alicia, produced by Machado.

It will initially be broadcast in Venezuela, through Venevisión, to later be launched in other countries in Latin America such as Mexico, and the United States.

In 2021, Machado appeared as a contestant in the first season of the reality television series La casa de los famosos.

She went on to win the competition with 40,586,129 votes.